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mikrokosmos · 4 years

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“Beethoven Sucks at Music”

A Response from a Classical Geek

So this video by the ever insightful 12tone channel came up in my YouTube recs, and I knew from the clickbait title I had to respond. To be fair to him, the argument is much more legit than the title would give off, but there are still some points that I want to comment on

“Can you name a Beethoven tune?”

He starts off saying most people can maybe hum a few melodies, but probably don’t know most of Beethoven’s work. Bee’s one of my favorite composers, and I have listened through all his major works. But sure, there are many classical fans who either haven’t listen to much of Ludwig, or don’t even like what they have heard so they listen to others. However, the general public? Well how much of the general public can name a Van Gogh other than Starry Night? How many know the name of the painter of The Scream? If you showed a random person on the street a set of Renaissance paintings, could they tell which artist painted which? What about impressionist paintings? Or have they read anything by Flaubert or Ibsen or Woolf? I’m not trying to gatekeep or be a snob [I couldn’t name the Renaissance painters, and I haven’t read any of those three], but rather to point out that “greatness” in art doesn’t have to equate with popularity. And Beethoven is definitely more popular than most classical ‘greats’.

The Canon

This is a pretty big insight that more people should reflect on. Why is Beethoven programed so much? Because he sells, and he sells because of people who like his music, but also people who want to be the people who like his music because Beethoven is a mark of cultural capital. Doesn’t mean they don’t “really” enjoy it, but that there could be an subconscious [or maybe deliberate/weaponized] desire to show others “I appreciate fine art”. Again, not trying to gatekeep, but think of the difference between...I don’t know, a random teenager who comes across Beethoven online and falls in love with the power of the scherzo from the 9th and wants to hear more, and someone like Ben Shapiro playing a Beethoven violin sonata after making a podcast about how Rap isn’t real music or that today’s music is “worse” than the Western greats. You see what I’m getting at? There is unfortunately a vocal minority of classical fans that want to use the music as fodder for their reactionary arguments.

Next, he does a great job covering the history of “the canon” and the cultural factors that created it.

We say Beethoven is good because of German-centric nationalism

Partly true. It’s especially funny to look at what composers of the 19th and early 20th century were thinking and saying about Beethoven and the Germans. Both the French and the Russians were annoyed by the German superiority being pushed in the music world and wanted to make their own cultural standards for ‘greatness’. And famously, both Debussy and Ravel were sick of Beethoven and were “anti-Wagnerian” in their aesthetics, and most of the “classics” of the Modern era were reacting to and against Beethoven, Brahms, and Wagner. Of course it doesn’t mean that Beethoven’s music isn’t great, rather that German nationalism and also ethnic pride coming from the German immigrants of 19th century America has a lot of cultural dominance. Ask a French person who the greatest composers are and they’re likely to say Couperin before Bach, Berlioz before Beethoven.

He then points out that, while the Canon is a cultural agreement, it is kept fixed and fossilized.

Focusing on Beethoven keeps music students from focusing on what they care about

You don’t have to love Beethoven. But if he’s saying that schools should only focus on what is ‘culturally relevant’, then are we throwing Shakespeare out of the curriculum? I don’t live in the same culture and time as him, but I still find Macbeth compelling, and Julius Caesar, and Othello...they are still great stories, and forget the idea of ‘high art’ because they’re full of lowbrow death and murder plots, sex jokes, fart jokes, and have a lot of badass moments [the witches of Macbeth, the ghosts of Hamlet, the assassination of Caesar, the sword fights and taunts of Romeo and Juliet, etc.]. I don’t live in Beethoven’s time either, but the Eroica pounds in my heart. I don’t think that the old classics should be the only thing we look at, but I don’t think we should only look at contemporary popular culture either. And frankly the best academic courses and professors are those who examine both with a similar eye. We always draw cultural parallels across art through time.

Who gets left out of the Canon?

This is a legit thing to look at. Lately there has been a greater shift at performing and looking into the music of otherwise ‘marginalized groups’. Though it may be too little too late, especially when the zeitgeist of today is knowing that there are so many stories and perspectives that are ignored or shut out from a canon. How often do you see the distinction of “women composers” instead of mentioning people by name? The same happens with “black composers”, or composers from non-European or non-”Western” countries. It’s important and overall a better thing for our culture to highlight these people, but there is still the connotation of them as a footnote to the “real” canon that doesn’t need a modifier [I mean, how often do you hear someone call Beethoven a great German composer, instead of just “great composer”? Lili Boulanger is a great composer who is almost always called a great woman composer…]

I also agree that there is the issue with the idea of teaching only what’s “important” for understanding a class, especially with art since it is cultural but usually it is taught like a forward thinking narrative. The major influencers are mentioned while great artists who can’t serve the narrative are left out. An interesting example would be Schopenhauer and his philosophic influence on classical music for his time, even though his major ideas are from Hindu and Buddhist theology filtered through 19th century German philosophy.

The Invisible Hand of the Canon

Also a great point. Why do we assume that the music of black composers isn’t “good enough”? Or “women composers”? Or “Turkish composers”, “Mexican composers”, “Filipino composers”, etc.? Where are these standards coming from? Let’s bring up two other greats, Mozart and Debussy. Who is better? Really, it falls down to opinion, because the music aesthetics of the two are so different, that you cannot make a real judgment without admitting that you’re assuming one set of standards over the other. Now, the music of Boulanger is much closer to Debussy than Mozart, so why would we judge her against Mozart to determine if she deserves to be sanctified into the Canon?

And I hate to be a gatekeeper, but I love out-snobbing the snobs, so when someone takes the conservative position of the Canon’s greatness, I wonder are they able to listen to a piece by Schoenberg and explain its relation to the German romantic tradition, regardless of if they enjoy it or not? Because I have seen ignorant defenders of Beethoven and Mozart call his work “random noise that a cat could play” and I want to know if they actually engage with the music beyond listening to 30 seconds and getting a rage wedgie

Does Beethoven suck?

He admits no, it was just clickbait. But his attitude or proposed attitude toward Beethoven is much more honest. The ‘greatness’ of his work is the experience you get from listening to it. Or, you can respect his art without really caring about it or listening to it much. But yeah, the more we acknowledge the artifice of the Canon, the easier it is for us to look at more music with a more critical eye, and I think that’s much more engagement than passively agreeing with the assumption of greatness for cultural capital. No, Mr. Shapiro, you don’t look smart or impressive for talking about Mozart instead of Lamar at a cocktail party. And if you do, it’s because you’re trying to impress stick-in-your-ass dull rich people who have no taste.

The End :D

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ilu-writes · 5 years

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Tyrant’s Tomb Predictions

I almost forgot that the next TOA book is coming out tomorrow (today, technically, for me) but I want to get in some of my predictions before it does so I can compare them. Also, I haven’t read any of the promo stuff, but I have absorbed some information via osmosis from my dash.

Frank Zhang won’t die. yes, I know they said his firewood would burn up, and that’s why they had the whole bucket list... but what kind of writer spoils that stuff before the books even come out? Nah, if Frank’s firewood does burn up, there’s going to be some kind of subversion of the curse. Maybe he’ll just lose his shapeshifting ability? Maybe Hazel will save him? Who knows. (also, i want to say I don’t think Rick will kill another member of the seven, but. who knows.)

Nico will appear again. Part of that’s wishful thinking, but also... his sister is definitely in the book, and we know he loves Hazel. Him taking a trip to see her definitely isn’t out of the question. Plus, he’s the first link between the two camps. Makes sense that he takes the ex-greek god there. ALSO it would be a nice mirror to Apollo being the one to take Nico to CHB in the first place.

will could also appear, or at least be mentioned, since. y’know. nico’s bf.

Reyna/Lester... wont be a thing. I know it’s implied he’s attracted to her, and like i said, i haven’t read the snippet (i believe he compares her to a goddess?) but honestly? How many people has he already been attracted to in the series? I don’t think anything will come of it. I do think Aphrodites prophecy/destiny thing will be addressed, and unfortunately, i get why in light of it reyna/apollo seems like it could happen. but... i dont think it will. I think by the end of the series, Apollo will be a god again (albeit a more humble one), and the relationship wouldn’t make sense.

On the topic, there’ll be a RARA joke in there. At least one.

More seriously, we’ll get to see Hylla (and by extension the Amazons) again. partially because of the sibling thing, but mostly because Hylla is also a child of Bellona, so it kind of makes sense to introduce her, given the prophecy.

The soundless god could be harpocrates, since he’s the literal god of silence (and secrets, which could be relevant), but i’m not too sure. I’ve seen suggestions of Dea Tacita, especially thanks to her connections to the Lares, which would be cool. I know Calypso would sometimes be referred to as a deity of silence, but sadly, i dont think she’ll be returning, at least not in that capacity. It could be a god who was recently silenced, maybe another god I know Bellona has been associated with Mars, and that would line up with Frank, which could be cool. Or it could be artemis, since we know she isn’t allowed to contact apollo and can only help from afar, thus making her ‘soundless’

another theory i came up with while writing this and now desperately want: it could be hestia, who’s soundless because she doesn’t have a voice on the council. Especially since she hasn’t appeared yet in the series, even though a lot of it took place at CHB and we know she tends the hearth there a lot. i want this.

iirc, Julius Caesar was deified after his death. He was also supposedly a child of Venus. And part of the first triumvirate. I’m pretty sure he’ll appear in some form. He could be the one who’s ‘even worse’ than the other emperors, but he never had a tomb.

On that point - Augustus Caesar, Julius’ nephew (?) did have a tomb dedicated to himself, was an emperor, and formed the second triumvirate. He was also stated to have joined the roman pantheon on his death. As much as I want hestia... i feel like he’s going to be the soundless god.

percy and annabeth might make a small appearance, at least as a cameo, because they’re meant to be studying in New Rome, and obviously, thats were at least some of the book takes place.

And, yeah, those are the ones i can think of right now. Feel free to add: I’m curious as to other peoples predictions! I’m hoping to have the book by the end of the week.

#toa #trials of apollo #the tyrants tomb #toa predictions #tyrants tomb predictions #apollo #Percy Jackon and the Olympians #Heroes of Olympus

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ask-shakespearehigh · 5 years

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Q&A post with the Mods!!!!

This is going to be a long one oh boy

How strict is the delineation of creative control vis-a-vis characters/plays between the mods? (@pedanticlecturer)

We generally have the plays split up along lines of “what we know”— we have a list at the very beginning of the blog. Sometimes we’ll draw the others’ characters (mostly me drawing some of Star’s…) but even then the final say on characterization is up to the “main” mod for that play — mod aster

what aster said -- mod star

What is your favorite play? What is your favorite character in terms of how they were written in the source material? (@pedanticlecturer)

I think my favorite play overall is Macbeth, just because I like the vibes (and the fact that I too could kill Macbeth), the fact that you don’t say it’s name in theatres, and the fact that it’s a play I did a full read through and analysis of in class. Favorite character? Puck from Midsummer. — mod aster

uhhhh,, hmm. ive always had a soft spot for midsummer since i saw it with aster esp bc of how fun the costumes were. of the comedies it has the largest potential to be the most visually pleasing bc of the concept of fairies,,,and im gay and dramatic so i love that. id die if i got to costume design for midsummer,,,or be in it,,,yeah. fav character. hmm. probably mercutio?? i recently saw a version of romeo and juliet where mercutio was played by a woman and oh my god it was amazing!!! not to mention mercutio’s portrayal in baz luhrmann's INCREDIBLE version of r n j!!! (I based my mercutio design on him) he just spends the entire time making dick jokes. love that. -- mod star

How do you answer asks so fast? I mean it's great but I'm impressed 😂 (Anon)

Personally, it’s a mix of: notifications on, quick drawing speed, and using the blog to avoid my class work — mod aster

aster is fast and (as you can see from all of my answers) im lazey -- mod star

Are there any elements/characters of the plays you're covering that you would have liked to work into this blog's plot, but couldn't due to the constraints of the setting or the synthetic nature of the blog? (@pedanticlecturer)

I wanted to make everyone gay but unfortunately due to plot constraints we have to have some hets but that wont stop me from making it lgbt as possible. -- mod star

I did want to make The Tempest more of a central play, but it just didn’t translate well. Similarly, other supernatural elements like the witches in Macbeth. This isn’t so much a constraint mentioned, but my own time/energy means that I want to show the Macbeth backstory, in a specific format, but I can’t right now— mod aster

Is there a hierarchy of import when it comes to each play's individualized impact on shakespeare high's general arc? If so, what plays are crucial to the foundation of the story? Which ones did you do mostly for shits and giggles? (@pedanticlecturer)

This is phrased like an ACT question and i might not answer it right so sorry in advance but: mod aster and i only selected a few plays for each of us to do given we dont know all of shakespeare’s works, but we tend to put more emphasis on the the more well known. But it also comes down to 1. How much we have plotted out for each play and 2. What the followers ask about most. Our two most popular are hamlet and macbeth bc people are familiar w those but around march caesar always becomes relevant again. I didnt even have designs for some of the characters until someone asked about them. -- mod star

I would say the same as star— it generally comes down to what people ask about. I will say that the overall plot is sort of separated into “has happened” and “is happening”. Like, the human potion of Midsummer, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth are all in the “aftermath” portion, while Twelfth Night, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet, among others, are happening. We’re trying to incorporate as much as we can, and I don’t think any of them were really put in without some thought.— mod aster

What personal significance does shakespeare hold in ur guys' lives? (@pedanticlecturer)

I go to a theater school rn and so ive dealt w shakespeare (although not all of them) it also helps that i was in loves labours lost last year as moth and that i read hamlet and r n j. Theres also a theater in my state that always does One Big Shakespeare per season and they always do them super well!!! My love for shakespeare probably started w seeing midsummer at that theater w mod aster!!! So. Theater kid rights!! -- mod star

To be honest, I got back into Shakespeare Because of the blog. I’ve been friends with some people that got really Pretentious about Shakespeare, and it kinda put me off of it. I did have a book of abridged plays (the plays’ plots written out in prose, basically) that I read as a kid, which is what got me into not only the plots of a lot of the plays, but also the idea of having them illustrated. And, same as star, the theater in state does the One Big Shakespeare— and they tend to do some really cool things with the costumes, setting them in diff time periods. I haven’t been able to see any lately since I’ve moved, but they still slap. — mod aster

🥰😘💙🥰🥰💜💟🥰I 😍💗💚😍😍LOVE🖤🖤 YALL ♥️♥️🧡💛💚💝❣️💕💘💖💗💓💞💝❤️💛💜 okay now i have a question i swear— how long have the two of you been doing art??? and what were your first shakespeare plays??? (@hellaghosts)

Uhh i started drawing when i was like idk 12 and i have the giant boxes of sketchbooks to prove it!!! I moved to digital art at abt 14-15 but mostly stayed traditional until this yr when i got a Neat New Tablet so some of my sketchbooks are sitting abandoned rip. My first shakespeare was either romeo and juliet or midsummer nights dream and i love both of them v much!!! I have a very old piece of art that i did for r n j for my freshman class assignment on it and it hasnt aged well alsdjfjafd circa 2016 i think??? -- mod star

Oh man. I started drawing when I was about 10, but it was Bad. I don’t think I got much into drawing again until I was about 14? Sometime around the end of middle school/beginning of high school. I would say I started getting into drawing as more than doodling/coloring edits sometime around 2015-16? I would draw on my iPad with my finger, then I got a tablet for my computer, and now I pretty much stick to my iPad with an Apple Pencil. My first Shakespeare play was….. uh…… probably Midsummer???? I have No idea. We would go to plays when I was little, so I honestly don’t remember if I saw others before. It may have been Romeo and Juliet— I had that book where it was the original and the “modernized” with the little dog that explained things— which, if you know it makes sense, but if you don’t is probably a bonkers answer. — mod aster

Do you think this blog has like? An overarching thesis (be it b/c intentionally or simply b/c ur own take on the world has bled thru to the point where u believe it’s central to the piece at this point)? (@pedanticlecturer)

Not gonna lie, I had to read that like three times AND dm you to figure out what you were asking from us and all I have is “be gay, respect women, write your own happy endings”. — mod aster

This blog started with an ides of march shitpost and you think we have enough brain energy to write a whole thesis? I projected feelings of found family onto my half of the blog but idk if that counts. Be gay do crime 420 69 -- mod star

What’s the nature/rough dynamic of ur relationship? How do y’all know each other? (@pedanticlecturer)

Met mod aster when i was like 4 and even tho we didnt live close we became like, best friends although the Best part didnt start until we were like 13-ish and eventually we talked like non stop (about anime and homestuck. Yknow. 13 year old kid things) and we didnt see each other a lot bc of Distance and now its even worse bc aster is in colleg.,e but we consider each other siblings regardless of family bc we’re adopted into our own respective families so that bled over into our friendship and it would feel weird calling him anything other than my brother now. We’ve seen each other at our best and worst and if you really want a good insight on what we’re like as siblings watch griffin and justin mcelroy’s overview video of catlateral damage wherein i am griffin and he is the long suffering justin. -- mod star

Star is basically my long distance sibling and functionally the only cousin I recognize bc like their parents are basically an aunt and uncle and like our dads look enough alike that we’ve both accidentally gotten the wrong dad for a hug or similar so like. Anyways yeah Star is the Griffin to my Justin, complete with our absent middle brother who we love dearly— mod aster

Dubiously relevant q but what kind of music do y’all listen to when u do art (if that is indeed a habit either of u partake in) (@pedanticlecturer)

It can depend on the piece? I was working on some (unrelated) oc prints that were song-focused, and for those I just listened to said song on loop. Sometimes I have playlists. Sometimes I’ll just be in a Mood and throw a song on loop. But a lot of time for the blog, I’ll listen to The Adventure Zone for the billionth time, because I have Too Much Attention. I’ve also, on request from Star, linked the most recent “loop song”.— mod aster

I tend to obsess over the same like 3 songs every few weeks so those get listened to on repeat but it also depends on the tone of what im drawing or who im drawing i might genre switch bc of that. If im drawing ophelia i stick to lana del rey and if im drawing hamlet its the neighborhood, horatio is sufjan stevens etc. i have categorized,. Most of the characters i draw into different songs/genres/energies of music but not like i ever follow that. Sometimes i just pull up a really long nonsense video and forget to draw. Essentially: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ -- mod star

How’d y’all come up with ur pseudonyms? (@pedanticlecturer)

I love space so much and my main blog is starryeydsailor space gay rights!! Im also tiny and full of energy and bright so basically i;m star -- mod star

Uhhhh i was like “hey i want to do uhhhhhh flower?” And then I google searched flower names until I found one I liked —- mod aster

How did you end up deciding the rough timeline of events in canon? (@pedanticlecturer)

It’s mostly determined by like. How we choose per story? If that makes sense. Like, we just take story by story, and decide “is it happening, has it happened, and when?” And then we fit them together in relation to each other just by dint of. All existing at once. Like, I knew I wanted Macbeth to be in aftermath, because like, even though there’s no murder, the way I’ve translated it to the AU is still kinda heavy, and it’s something that I don’t know that I could do properly if it were happening right now. Also, it’s more interesting IMO to have them at different times. Tl;dr we wing it per story and slot them together— mod aster (mod star agrees I just can word better, in theory)

If you could tell the story of shakespeare high in a different format than an ask blog, would you? Obviously y'all are making very good use of the format, but would you want to write this as a animated series or like? a comic book? or is the form inseparable from the story? (@pedanticlecturer)

I kinda wanted to do a webcomic or maybe to plot develop through like, animatics but the element of surprise comes from the asks we get and really makes us think so the blog is a good start. We didnt think we’d get this far -- mod star

Pretty much what Star said— there are certain elements where it’d be neat to do as a comic or as an animatic. Like, the fantasy dream is like, an anthology webcomic of each story, where you can like, see other characters in the background and stuff. But to be honest, we develop a lot by what we’re asked— there was a post about developing worldbuilding by being asked questions and then pretending you’ve thought about the answer, and it’s not far off. Personally, it’s hard to just lay out a story, because I have a whole WORLD and what’s relevant? What are people interested in? It’s by getting questions that I can then focus in on an area to develop. And yeah, we Super didn’t think we’d get this far lmao — mod aster

Any headcanons about your characters that you don't think will ever come up on the blog through asks or plot posts? (@pedanticlecturer)

I could make a whole separate post for this!!!!! Mostly its voice headcanons (and by mostly i mean like 1 or 2) or relationship hcs!!!! -- mod star

Honestly same. I don’t think I have voice headcanons for mine, though I bet I could find some. I’ve got a bunch of miscellaneous headcanons that just kinda float around, but like they’re scattered, too numerous for this post, and also not always things I’m sure are canon yet.— mod aster

#mod post #mod aster #mod star #q and a #birthday #we cant seem to read more AND tag so like brb gonna go kill god

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astridthevalkyrie · 6 years

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Axe to the Heart: Chapter 2

Astrid Hofferson/Steve Harrington. “Maybe I hate a lot of things here in Hawkins but I suppose you’re not one of them.”

Chapter 1

Edit: Thank you very much to @warrior-of-httyd and @ashleybenlove for giving this trash pair a chance and for the lovely reviews. :D

The next few days became worse and worse. She did nothing but paperwork at the station, the only one who really acknowledged her there was Florence (who said to call her Flo), school was getting tougher by the day (what could she expect, it was senior year), and for some Thorforsaken fucking reason, Steve Harrington was still walking around like someone killed his cat (honestly, what a drama queen).

And Astrid hated the gut feeling she had that paperwork was all she’d ever do in her life, her grades would find a way to mess up eventually, and that she was the one who murdered the fucking kitten.

She was working her ass off to try to get past the first two problems. She could not let her grades slip, or her parents would take an interest in her, but not in a good way. And maybe, just maybe, she’d get Chief Hopper’s seal of approval.

The Steve Harrington thing she could just forget. Right? Right?

Wrong. Apparently, fate was working against her.

“Byers and Campbell, Harrington and Hofferson, Jackson and Brown…”

Everything, Astrid decided as she saw Harrington coming towards her, was shit. Her teacher, and this project in general were part of that everything.

Harrington dropped his bag and slumped in the chair next to her, before looking at her expectantly. She bit back a grimace and shifted her seat closer.

“I hope you know what we’re doing, Hofferson, because I have no clue what the hell she just said.”

Astrid snorted despite herself. Typical.

“We need to choose any Shakespearean work and act out a five minute scene of something we believed should have happened. That was the basic stuff. Everything else was her telling us in fancy terms how much she’d love to fail us if we screwed this up.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you spoke Shakespeare.” He flashed a grin at her, and Astrid bit her lip to stop a sigh of relief from escaping her.

He didn’t hold hard feelings - whatever he was upset about had nothing to do with her.

But then, maybe that was worse. Now she felt even more guilty, because he didn’t hold a grudge. Couldn't he just hate her and get on with it?

“So, when do you want to meet up to plan this thing?”

Astrid thought about what she had remembered last night. For someone who was dubbed a king, he sure didn't have that many friends. Since she'd been here she’d only seen him sitting with Nancy Wheeler, but yesterday, Nancy had sat with Jonathan, and Astrid had seen Harrington sitting by himself. There wasn't any need for him to - half the girls in the school would be more than willing to help him move on.

But what the hell. They might as well just spend the period together. She certainly didn't have anyone vying for her attention.

“Why don't we do it at lunch?” Then, to clear it up lest he think she watched him while she ate, she quickly said, “If you're not too busy.”

“Nah. I'm not. You know...too busy dreaming about girls who like photography nerds.” He shot her a smirk. Asshole. “I’ll find you there, then?” Harrington extended a hand.

He still looked like a fucking wreck. Astrid shook his hand and they didn’t say anymore to each other for the last five minutes of class.

They could have planned right then, but honestly...Astrid was looking forward to not sitting alone at lunch, and when she threw a quick glance to Harrington who was smiling at his phone, she thought he might be too.

“So…”

“So.”

“Why don’t we choose a book?” Astrid suggested, taking out her notebook and pencil. “We’ve read - well, I’ve read - most of them.”

“Hey,” Harrington cut in, looking affronted, “I’ve read them too. I’ve read...Romeo and Juliet. Oh, and Macbeth.”

“Hamlet? Midsummer Night’s Dream? Julius Caesar?” Astrid raised a brow at him as she listed some of her favorites (there was a reason she was in Shakespearean Literature and it wasn’t because she needed the credits).

“Maybe we could stick to Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth?” he asked, looking hopeful. Astrid nearly laughed - but she caught herself.

“Fine. Any ideas?” She bent down, ready to write. They could probably jot down notes and maybe even start a script by the end of the period.

“Not a one.”

Astrid snapped her head up and blew her bangs out of her face as she stared at him. “Okay, so I’ll be doing the work. Whatever. Just practice your lines when I give you them.” She stood up with her tray, taking her things in the other hand (and realized she really should have put her things in her bag before she stood up. She blamed Harrington and his floofy hair for distracting her).

“Hey, hey, no, I’ll help!” He stood up so quickly and with such wide eyes that Astrid relented (she relented? She relented? Just when the fuck was the last time she relented to anyone?) and sat down. Harrington sat back down as well, looking satisfied. “Okay, so I think we should do Romeo and Juliet. It’s everyone’s favorite.”

“But if it’s everyone’s favorite, everyone will be doing it. Maybe we should go with Macbeth.” She leaned back before realizing there was no wall behind her.

Okay, whatever this new idiotic side of her was, it needed to stop popping up in front of Steve fucking Harrington. First she had the gall to feel guilty, and now she was doing dumb stuff like relenting - if she didn’t look out she might start joking around with him.

“What scene could we add to Macbeth?”

“What scene could we add to Romeo and Juliet?” Astrid shot back. If he said that they should show the sex scene in greater detail then Thor help him, she would murder him.

“Maybe a scene with the parents mourning. You could be Lady Capulet and I’d be Lord Montague since Lady Montague died.”

It...wasn’t a bad idea. It was okay. More than she expected.

“Okay…” She wrote the idea down. “Mourning parents. I can work with that.”

“We can work with that,” Harrington insisted, leaning forward and reading her notes upside down. “You know, Lady Capulet really suits you.”

Astrid looked up at him. There was a small smile on his face and testily she asked, “Why do you say that?”

He shook his head, seemingly holding back a laugh. “Lady Capulet was stuffy as hell, you’d play her really well.”

Astrid glared at him, stuffed her notebook and pencil in her bag (ha, she thought ahead this time), and stood up, storming away from him.

Five people. Five people in the whole world were allowed to make fun of her about her personality...her “stuffiness.” And Harrington wasn’t one of those five people. So he could go screw himself.

“Hey...hey!”

She ignored him, leaving the lunch room even though she heard whispers. Astrid didn’t want anyone whispering about her, but if she turned around and snapped at him in front of everyone, whispers would be the least of her problems.

It was when she stopped at her locker that Harrington caught up with her. “Okay. I’m sorry. Be Montague. Lady Montague, that is. We can bring her back from the dead. Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Astrid snarled - could he let her be irritated with him in piece? - as she shoved her bag in the locker and took out what she would need for the next period. “Tell me I’m being a drama queen and go away.”

“Hey, I’m the queen of drama queens.” He peered at her and gave her a charming grin (which, damn it all to hell, was pretty charming). “Just don’t stop talk - uh, brainstorming with me. Please? I just...really wanna work hard to get this grade.”

What the hell was wrong with him? Usually guys called her out for being a bitch or being dramatic, which she usually was. On purpose. The only guy who hadn’t done that who she’d been romantically involved with was Hiccup, and no one was like him. Certainly not King Steve.

Astrid slammed her locker shut and looked up at him (she blamed his hair for the extra foot he had on her). “Don’t call me stuffy again.”

“Won’t.” He looked completely serious. “Definitely...will not. At all. Um...I don’t think we should go back to the cafeteria because there are people who saw us leave -”

“Yeah, thanks for that, Romeo.”

“ - Welcome, Lady Montague. Hey, maybe we should have that instead! A scene between Romeo and his mom where they talk some stuff out.”

Astrid shook her head, hiding her smile as she hugged her books close to her chest. Well, that was strange. All the anger had evaporated. But he had called her stuffy. And he wasn’t allowed to.

But it wasn’t as though she was suddenly close to him, it was just nice to...talk to someone like this again. Like a friend.

“Next.”

“A scene between Nurse and some random cook and we just make it pure comedy.”

“Next!”

“Secretly Paris was having an affair with Paris from the Iliad.”

“Next!”

I have never written a second chapter this quickly, do you need any more proof that this ship owns my body and soul now?

#httyd #stranger things #astrid hofferson #steve harrington #stevestrid #valkyrie stories

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